Apple changed the world of cellular phones with its iPhone in 2007, and then did the same for the personal computing landscape in 2010 with the iPad tablet. Smartphones and tablet PCs existed before these devices were released, but the widespread embrace of both has led to a boom time for the mobile tech industry. It’s surprising then that Apple’s iPad hitting the 100,000 app milestone in the App Store isn’t being trumped as the achievement that it is.

Word of the 100,000 marker being crossed comes from macstories, which noticed the figure in the same app listing that you or I can look at anytime simply by firing up the App Store on a nearby iPad. At the time of the original writing, the official count was at 100,161 (we’re now up to 100,740). It’s an impressive statistic when you consider that the iPad launched a little more than a year ago (April 3, 2010).

The figure includes both iPad-specific apps and those that are available as “universal” downloads, compatible with both iPad and iPhone. Perhaps that’s the reason Apple isn’t making any sort of noise about the achievement. Still, bravo to the iPad and the App Store for filling our lives with apps that can do everything from publishing blog posts to posing as lightsabers.